The Darker Side
by IzacH
Summary: Two jedi padawans escape Order 66 and attempt to take down the empire...through any means.
1. Chapter 1

Nylla is a togruta jedi youngling, (togruta's is the alien species Shaak Ti and Ashoka Tano were,) has white tattoos on her eyelids and around her eyes like Shaak Ti, and has a small stripe on the bottom of her lip.

Lightsaber Color: Blue

Age: 14(almost a padawan)

Fire. Fire covers the courtyard. Fire covers the archives. Fire covers the entrance. Fire covers the gardens. Fire covers the the Jedi Temple. Heat hits my face as I run out to face the twisting embers of hatred. Amongst them I see a shadowy figure, garbed in a black robe, and clone troopers. the figure twist and a indigo blade rises from the polished silver hilt. But the figure is not looking toward me, whoever it is, they are pointing the blade at a padawan. With a sizzle the glowing lightsaber blade severs the right arm and then head of the padawan off, twisting and obscured by the smoke for a brief moment before remerging, a shadow of horror and death. The body of the padawan lies in on the floor, strewn with bodies. Another jedi rushes forward, acid green lightsaber in hand. The two blades meet for a short second, before the cloaked figure twirls around and engages again. Another clash of the blades, and then cloaked figure reverses his attacks and begins to stab. The jedi does his best to defend, but the clone troopers open fire, releasing bolts of blue energy upon him, burning holes through the jedi before he falls. I forget the heat, the blisters on my hands, the fire flooding the hallways, burning the bodies of my friends, my allies. The hooded figure turns, and the light flickers upon his face. Yellow eyes, embers of horror, glory, victory, defeat, confusion and clarity. Eyes of a tormented being. The roaring of the flames block out his words, but I know my death has been ordered. The blaster is raised, the bolt is fire. A force of some kind pulls my lightsaber up and deflects the blow. I stumble back at the power before tripping and falling. I now see that I have tripped over the body of a jedi. The jedi's is maimed, missing two fingers on her left hand, and a glowing gash across her chest. I turn, horrified, and slowly stumble away, aware of the burning pain in my leg and the slowly pulse of blood rushing down my leg and drying. The world spins, and I have to focus on the force to gain stability. I tear a piece of my robe off wrap it around. Somewhere close jedi are fighting, fighting who we thought we allies. I hear cries from both sides and slowly sit up and stumble toward the place as fast as I can. A male Rodian slides into my view and I recognize my master, master Ulilivolve, deflecting the blaster bolts of two clone troopers back into their chests. My vision is blurry, but I see the Dark Robed Figure approaching, I rush forward to help my master. _Together, we can take him down, make him pay for what he has done. _My master shakes his head sadly as if he knows what just went through my head, and raises his hand. A force lifts me off the ground and gently pushes me back several hundred yards. In the distance I see a flash of blue...and red...and then...I see his eyes, lifeless, dead, gone, dead. I see my lightsaber, a few feet away, and lift my scraped and blistered arm to grab it. The cool metal soothes some of the pain in my hand, a small comfort to me. I turn and crawl away. Huge pillars, bearing the names of great jedi blocks my path now that they have been reduced to rubble. I drag myself up and run away. As I run, the fires catch on my cloak and I shed it, revealing a simple tunic I wear. My red skin seems to blend in with the fire, but the black and white stripes on the horn like montrols on my head provide little coverage. I stumble away through the rubble and smoke, I soon cough and my eyes water. I start to crawl again, slowly crying tears of all that I have lost, the pain in my chest, the stinging of my eyes. Let it end. Let it end. I keep crawling blindly through the smoke, until a wave of cold hits me. I open my eyes, the stars glow, celestial orbs of light upon the black cloth of the night. I cough and cough, and slowly crawl away into the welcoming arms of the windy night. I must be in the left side of the gardens. A cool breeze hits me again and I let it push back the tears in my eyes. I try to stand but collapse immediately. I fall over and lye on my back, starring at the stars, so beautifully simple, complete...pure. I start to here the noises before I react. Screams, blasters, heavy thuds. I try my feet, and shakily stand. Time seemed to have washed over me, because the very edge of the sun's golden light is lightly tickling the city. On the far side of the temple a plume of smoke rises, a black twirl of darkness and hopelessness, followed by the embers of hate that created it. My leg aches horribly, causing me pain ever time I put wait on it. I think a blaster bolt may have singed my leg. I don't want to look at the wound now, I'm not safe, my old home, is no longer safe for me. Smoke still fills the halls, so I look for another exit. Bellow me about sixty yards is a Hangar with about twelve jedi cruisers. Clone troopers are positioned everywhere around them. _I need to get into one of those ships! _I'm so desperate I think I might as well chuck myself off the edge of the temple when I hear the distant sounds of battle. A brown robed figure dashes by the guards of the hangar, killing two, then ducking behind a space shuttle. I immediately look for a way down. There's a ventilation system I can use, a jump down on top of it, before landing on another small shaft containing plants, I look into the jedi padawans room. A dark body lies inside, the hot embers of his or her flesh still glowing. I look for another way down, I'm about forty yards away from the hangar now. I see a balcony bellow, and jump. I land perfectly, knocking the breath out of myself. I swallow. The troopers are getting closer to the jedi I saw previously. I throw myself out of the balcony and down the hangar. I use the force to lighten by fall, since it's about twenty feet, but I still feel a sharp pain across my injured leg, and I keel over.

"Theres another one!" says one of the troops, turning. The jedi behind the ship jumps over it's hull and cuts the clone troopers head off. I spin away sliding on my stomach toward the other who's about to blast the jedi that just saved by life. I kick his legs out from under him and kick him again in the helmet. I limp toward the jedi. Now that I see him I realize that he has black hair that spikes out in the front and golden eyes.

"Zie," he says.

"Nylla," I reply. We get into the shuttle and gear the controls. About twelve troopers with a heavy gun approach. I start typing coordinates furiously. _Booom! _The blaster goes off, blowing one of our engines off. I grab the controls and activate the thrusters.

"I hope you know how to drive this thing," says Zie. In reply I smile and shake my head. The ship spirals off the hangar bay, leaving a trail of smoke behind. We're persuade, two speeders race through the busy Courscaunt traffic, a huge career blocks our path so we swerve towards a tunnel that leads into the darker parts of Courscaunt. The clones open fire, blasting civilians and setting buildings alight. I check if the cruiser has any weapons on the scanners.

"Zie! On my left there are the controls for the Blaster Turrets!" I shout. He spins around and seizes the controls. I here the sounds of a laser blaster as he attempts to take down the clones, one swerves and avoids, but the other is reduced to a large fireball. A large slim ship slips out of a hangar and I'm forced to pull up on the controls, causing the dursteal plates to dent. The metal from the damaged part of the engines begins to peele off, exposing the ship's wires and circuits. More blaster fire, I see the clone expertly duck the bolts and flip upside down on his speeder to avoid more before opening fire. The laser bolts melt the exposed wire like glass. All the lights go out and about half the scanners to. I no long have control over the ship, and Zie doesn't have control over the blaster either because he turns around, the gun still firing. Another volley of shots from the trooper, and molten holes appear behind me. I let out a sound between a yelp and a gasp, as freezing cold air suck me backward. I have to hold onto my seat so Im not sucked out of the small holes. Another volley of bolts, the entire back wall peels away, and I am sucked out, hanging onto a thick wire. Zie seems to be holding onto the controls for deer life, we're heading straight for the slim ship. I see a train beneath us.

"Zie! Let go!" I shout. He looks at me like I'm crazy, but then, he relaxes his muscles, and for a second he's just standing there, before the wind whisks him away. I here the _tink _of blaster ammo being loaded and hold my breath before letting go. I seem to be falling forever, I see the clone blast apart the ship until is smashes into the slim ship, causing a huge blue fireball to rise and the ship to crash into neighboring buildings. And then...impact. I fall onto a hard cold metal surface. I think I bruised my back pretty bad, but, I am alive. I search for Zie, and spot him five cars away.

"Nylla, we need to get off at the next station," he says. For a while I'm peaceful, left with nothing but my thoughts. I let the calm wash over me like the cool breeze. Eventually the train slows and we both jump off. Disguise, we need to hide so that no one can find us. Then after that, we need to hide. Zie doesn't strike me as the person who will just hide, but what choice do we have? Planets fly through my head, Dantooine, Tatooine, Felucia, Mon Cala, before I realize that the entire time I was fighting to occupy them with the republic I was fighting for the sith. Tatooine is the only safe place. We walk through the dark streets until we come upon an armor shop. The manager, an old Zabrack, leads us through the hallways. Most of it is dusty junk, but Zie finds a helmet that hides all of his face but gives him night vision. I search for a while, none of the masks or helmets can fit with my montrols. Eventually I find a hoodie that has purple lettering upon it. We pay the credits for them before departing. The streets become darker, and we see clone troopers in the distance. They run regular patrols around the area, around the entire planet for all I know. I can tell Zie wants to kill them, but I restrain him before he can.

"If you kill them, than more will come and we'll all be dead," I say as his hands tighten around his lightsaber again. He just nods and walks away. Food becomes and issue and we stop by a small pub to get a meal. We're running low on credits. The sun starts to set bellow the gigantic sky scrapers that pepper Courascaunts surface. By the time it has sunk completely from view we've found a small abandoned building to stay the night in. The stars I saw earlier now shine brighter than ever now that the radiant sun has left. I curl up on one side of the shack and fall asleep. I awake to the rays of silverly light slipping through the cracked stone walls. Zie is before me, fiddling with a hologram.

"Where did you get that?" I ask him.

"Sneaked out last night and grabbed it from a store," he says. I can't help but choke on saliva when I hear this.

"You **stole **from a civilian!?" I ask unbelieving.

"We need it more," he replies cooly. But his amber eyes are hostile and defensive. I slump back against a metal pillar and peer down at the hologram. It displays sector after sector of Courscaunt.

"Your like my master, always peaceful and calm, look what good that did him," continues Zie. He doesn't say anymore, all I have to do is look at the plume of smoke rising from the jedi temple. As he clicks by holograms, Zie stops and points out a hangar.

"We could use that," he says.

"Where is it," I ask.

"Three blocks away, easy for us," he replies. We get up and begin to walk. Planning different strategies of how we're going to get into one of the shuttles. When we finally arrive, we both jump up atop the large metal junk trucks and survey the area. Our plan is simple, cause a distraction, then get the heck out of there. I nod, and it begins. Zie jumps off of the junk trucks and swings his green lightsaber, slashing through the metal and allowing all of the past garbage to slide out. Then levitating the rubble, he begins to throw parts of it at the pilots, not to hurt them, but to just get them away. Now it's my turn. I leap down from the truck and sprint towards the nearest ship I can find. It's a K-Wing, I jump upon it's roof and use the force to control the walkway lever. As soon as the ramp slides down from the ship I jump down and dash into the cockpit. I hear some clatter, Zie must be getting creative. I seal the ramp and slowly set the ship into hover before gently stirring it to the left where I can face Zie. He nods and leaps up, higher than I have ever seen a padawan jump and leans atop the cockpit, I open the ramp and he summersaults sideways and lands upon it before strolling up and sitting down next to me. I close the ramp again, and pull the hyperdrive lever, just as I set the coordinates. I look at Zie, and he smiles, _we__'__re leaving. We did it, we escaped. _The stars slowly seems to stretch as we zoom bye them, stretching until they are solid light. And then we remerge from the end of a long tunnel. The glowing ember in the darkness of space, the Orange planet Tatooine comes into view.

Chapter 2

The cold metal of the controls causes my muscles to freeze up when I make contact. Zie walked off to explore the ship while I maintained control. I ease the thrusters a little, so we gently float toward the planet. I switch several levers and it goes on auto pilot. I walk through the small bridge and down into the fork in the hallways of the ship. I don't know where I'm going so I just take the left path. I pass doors labeled Engines, Hyperdrive, Laser Turrets, but keep going. At the end of the hallway I find myself at a staircase. Walking upward hurts me injured leg, which I still haven't got the guts to look at, but I make it to the top anyway. A smooth silvery metal room, with one large window across the side. Through the window I can see hundreds of bright twirling vibrant multi colored stars. It's beautiful. I find that there are seats, and I sit down. Relaxing for just a moment. I close my white dyed eyelids and absorb the moment for a second. Before I can help myself I fall asleep. Darkness finds me…I see it over an over again from a hundred different eyes. A cloaked man killing my master. Until I see it from my masters eyes, a feel the pain and lightness of the blade slicing through his body, and then, the most horrifying thing, I see it through the killers eyes. Full of hatred and sorrow, confusion, shame, anger, fear, and it scares me.

"Nylla, wake up," says Zie, shaking me awake. I blink several times be remembering that it was all a dream.

"We're almost at Tatooine," he says again. I can tell he wants to say more, but I get up before he can, embarrassed. I really hope I wasn't muttering or anything, because that would creep me out too if I were him. I see Tatooine, we're much closer now, almost to the atmosphere. I don't seem to have gained any rest from the time I was sleeping, because I find myself drifting away before shaking myself awake. When we at last reach cloud cover, or the thin grayish polluted lines in the sky, I let finally let my eyes close. My dreams are stranger than the last. At first I think I wake up and begin to steer the ship downward, but we keep going up, I finally figure this out because Zie has been tampering with the controls. When I look into his eyes they are not golden, but the red and yellow I saw on the face of the Sith Lord who killed my master. I scream and wake up with the bit of sound on the end of my tongue. I wake with a sudden surge of fear, cold sweat slithers down my back, and I feel sick. I take large calming breaths and look to the chamber where Zie is, the doors are thick enough, he didn't here anything. I see the landscape now, the orange sun baked mountains, the scum city Boonta Eve, and the small black dots that represent all the life that lives on this decollate planet. We find a small valley in the mountains and land, spraying dust and sand everywhere. After it's cleared, we both jump out and land on the soft sand bellow. Boonta Eve is only about a twenty minute walk away, because we can see the people clearly now that we're from the mountains, but we decide to stay the night in the ship. I'm afraid to go asleep, fear of the hooded figure will come and haunt me. Fear. I shouldn't experience it, I'm almost a padawan, I was a padawan, for a day, I had a master. Before that I had known him. He had saved my life on the day of the bombing of the jedi tempe. Great sorrow had gone through the jedi a week after, and shame to, I never found out why. My eyelids droop but I force myself to stay awake. I try to recite the jedi code, but I fall asleep halfway through. My dreams are empty and hollow, and I remember none of them. The fiery suns rise, and I awake. I walk over to where Zie lies and shake him awake. He stirs before getting up, and I walk out of the ship. The dark purple fabric on my hoodie is bad for this kind of weather, and I fear the heat. We arrive in Boonta Eve with haste, slowly searching the places where we can settle down. After about five minutes we find a small pub and take a back seat. From here we plan. Zie speaks first.

"We need to make a stand, face off with the empire, kill as many-"

"And where, may I ask, is this group of skilled people going to appear from, thin air?" I interrupt.

"Look around you, there a hundreds of people who would go against the empire for a few credits." He says, smiling.

"We don't have a "couple of credits", certainly not enough to satisfy these people," I reply.

"What if we were to brake into a Imperial Cruiser factory, there has to be loads of credits in some storage unit," he says.

"And thousands of guards!" I sputter.

"You can stay, but I'm going," he says angrily. Well if he wants to go get himself killed in some mission, it's not my problem. To my disbelief he walks over to a group of Trandoshians, and begins talking to them without any fear at all. I can't here their conversation, but I see the Trandoshians smile and shake his hand. When he comes back I ask a question that even he must be wondering.

"How are you going to get off this planet," I ask.

"They have a few credits, we'll get something," he replies. With the last of our credits we buy two small meals and eat. I look out into the setting suns, if the force truly guides us, why would it take a turn like this.


	2. Chapter 2 Captured

The dusk light slowly creeps from behind the desert dunes. The golden hills softly sigh as a rush of cool air gently slides across their surfaces. Six figures, two shorter than the other four, slowly crossed as the burning suns slowly sank beneath the dunes. Four of the beings were lizard like and scaly, Trandoshians, the other two differed in species. One was a human while the other a Togruta. As they traveled along the dunes the wind picked up and spikes of began to cover the figures. One of the Trandoshians hissed angrily, exposing jagged sharp teeth. At last the sand dunes arched downward into a valley where a slim ship lay.

I decided to go for two reasons, first, me and Zie could be the only two jedi alive in the galaxy, and we should stick together, second, he didn't really give me a choice when he asked if I was coming or not. As we enter the ship I breath with relief as clean air fills my nose. The Trandoshians hiss and stalk off to a corner while I take the controls. Before I turn up the hyperdrive I pause.

"Zie…are you sure about this?" I ask.

"No, but it's the only option I have," he replies. I swallow, we could be flying to our dooms right about now. I hear a beeping just as I rest my hand on the hyperdrive system lever. One of the Trandoshians, a bright lime green one, is tapping buttons furiously.

"What is he doing?" I demand.

"Summoning their ships, you didn't think we'd take on an entire TIE factory without having more than one ship right?" he replies calmly. _No more interruptions._ Even though I was reluctant at first, I feel a thrill of anticipation as we zoom into the atmosphere just as I pull the Hyperdrive lever. It takes several minutes for the Trandoshians to summing their ships with a Hyperdrive as well before I stir the ship around. The TIE factory lies within the center of an asteroid field, it has a large force field to protect it from incoming asteroids. I fly the ship to hide around a solitary asteroid. Our plan is simple yet again, nudge a large asteroid into the force field, while the field is not stable by the huge asteroid three Trandoshians will open fire, weakening the force fields until they explode. The distraction will allow me, Zie, and the last Trandoshian to sneak in. From there our plans got confusing and we decided to improvise. It takes about an hour to find the right sized asteroid, and we slowly nudge it forward. Imperial scanners pick it up and TIE Fighters come out to blast the asteroid to bits. _ Now! _I open fire with my left wing turret, manually controlling the ship at the same time. The jets of red light blow up the tie fighters and the asteroid collides with the field. A ripple widens along the entire spherical field, and the trandoshians open fire. As the wave spreads and tiny bursts of blue flame pepper the surface of the field as if wavers before shuddering and becoming a silky substance similar to a liquid, it falls, slicing through the remnants of the asteroid until it dissipates. TIE fighters swarm out of the hangar and attack the trandoshians who swerve away avoiding the hail of blaster fire. The TIE fighters zoom over the spot where the trandoshians had attacked and find a small surprise…proton bombs. The sector lights up with crackling light blue energy as about a dozen TIE fighters are turned to dust. Now is our chance. I thrust the ship forward and we smoothly descend into the hangar. A small squad of two dozen Stormtroopers, dressed in skeletal white armored suits are jogging toward us. They must have sent a signal because now half the TIE fighters in space, about three dozen, circle around and bear down on us.

"Activate the hangar's force field!" says Zie sharply to the Trandoshian.

"I don't take orders from yo-" begins the Trandoshian.

"I got it!" I say. All three of us jump out of the ship as the Stormtroopers approach firing range. Me and Zie deflect the blaster bolts while the Trandoshian blast the troopers. The TIE fighters are getting close, I see on exposition it's laser turret…_no! _I reach out with the force and nudge the Laser Turret to the left and the beams of energy blast apart the remaining Stormtroopers. I hear an explosion from above and know that the trandoshians flying in space are to busy to help. I run toward the controls and slide across the floor, reaching out and pulling down the lever. A blue wall erupts from the hangar outlining walls. The incoming rain of laser turrets bounce off, causing ripples. I know, however, that like the one outside, it will only be a matter of time until this force field runs out. The hangar is deathly quite. I can hear every breath, every footstep. I can hear the sizzling of the wounds me and Zie inflicted upon the Stormtroopers. I walk over slowly to the ship…_I should be running, doing something urgent, not checking the ship for repairs! _One of the blaster bolts me and Zie deflected hit the left wing, but it's not bad, just a scorch mark. I hear a crash and turn. One Trandoshian fighter appears, leading about a dozen and a half of TIE fighters on it's tail in the swarm of TIE fighters in front of us. Both sides open fire and begin to blow up each other's own ranks. The rest collide. At first I think that the Trandoshian has survived pulling off this amazing stunt. Then I see a hunk of metal from his ship drift by. A squad of Stormtroopers rush down the spotlessly clean white corridors and open fire with blooded blaster bolts. I jump behind a pile of trash and begin to deflect the blaster bolts. The Trandoshian takes cover while opening fire mercilessly, gunning down half the squad before pausing to reload. As the troopers struggle to regain control I jump over the pile of rubbish and severe the heads of three. I then flip away from the incoming blaster bolts and use a force push on the rest. My own force power alone would have done nothing, but as I lift my hand Zie lift's his as well. The Stormtroopers are swirled up writhing within our force storm and smashed into the wall. We run down the passageway, taking out Stormtroopers.

"We need to go to the main reactor!" I say over the explosions and blaster fire.

"Not before I get my credits!" Hisses the Trandoshian. Zie's eyes burn with anger.

"Go get your credits while we get the reactor!" he commands as we duck behind a TIE fighter. We've run into another hangar. I tug the chains holding the TIE fighter to the roof with the force and cause them to fall down upon the unexacting Stormtroopers. As the distraction takes place we run, me and Zie down the hallway to the reactor, the Trandoshian to the bank storage. Me and Zie dart down the hallways, cutting down Stormtroopers as we go. As we turn a corner I see the elevator shaft. The doors shift open and more Stormtroopers poor out.

"Now!" he yells. Both he and I blast the Stormtroopers back into the elevator with the force. I leap upward twirling my blue lightsaber as I spin and severe the wires and beams holding the elevator before back flipping off. The shaft plummets to the ground before exploding with a ball of fire and dust. Down at the bottom I see dusty crates full of explosives and batteries. I jump upward and put both feet on the two un cut beams and slide down. As I enter the floor I stay clear of the smoldering crater where the elevator landed. Zie comes down behind me and I search the area. My eyes find a blast door and we charge at it. About four Stormtroopers block our paths. They open fire. As the hail of energy bolts begins to rain down upon me I duck and roll, landing near one of the Stormtroopers. With a swift movement I cut of his head force grab his blaster. I fire at the first three Stormtroopers before Zie kills the last. Together we begin to slice through the metal doors, carving an O into it's hard surface and kicking it down. A creepy blue glow embraces us as we enter the dark room. Two large tubes containing a steady flow of electricity is what produces the light. Around the tubes are controls that house wires which snake around the room. Within the light I see two figures, both identical. Both are dressed in blood red robes with black visors to see, and equipped with slender spears that give off occasional sparks. My lightsaber ignites at my side, and so does Zie's. I react before I see. Blue sparks shoot into the air as the staff of one of the Red Guards collides with my lightsaber. I flip upward and land behind the Red Guard. I thrust my lightsaber outward, slashing at his side before fainting to his leg. He blocks my faint and pushes, knocking me backward and pressing me against the railing. I now see that there are levels of railing on the two reactors. I kick the guard in the stomach and slide backward, grabbing the railing before flipping forward and landing on the second level. I dash through an entrance and fine myself in a dark room, full of beeping controls and red lights. Pillars made of thick black wires fell from the ceiling. As the Red Guard entered, I duck behind one. I hear the fixing of his staff as he walks, the sound of his metal boots scraping on the floor alert me and I breath quickly. I feel a gentle breeze as he walks by. I scoot around the side and exhale. I hand grips my throat and I try to scream. _He doubled back! _The staff raises and I desperate reach out for the Red Guards mind with the force. He hesitates for a fraction of a second and I kick away, roll under him and force push him out and smashing into the reactor. For a second the moment is frozen, a long tendril of electricity reaches out to snatch it's next victim. The man writhes and shrieks as the bolt courses through his body. Then a hypersonic explosions rakes my ears and I pull back screaming. The reactor lights up and explode. The first seconds are silent. I'm lifted off my feet and I feel burns creep all over my body. Then the second wave of sound smashes into me and I hear cords snap and explode. Sparks light up and catch fire on the controls…green fire. I scramble up to my feet and fall over, the burns are too severe. I let the next shock wave blast me through a wall. I'm unable to move, incapacitated by pain. I stare up at the light before my eyes close. I hear footsteps, heavy footsteps. Stormtroopers. This is the end…I'm going to die. _No! _The energy of the force rips through me, wildly attacking anything that is within reach. I hear the surprised screams of the Stormtroopers as they are flung into the walls. I reach outward and pull myself up, screaming as the pain grips me. Another shockwave knocks me down and flings me down a hallway. I stand up again, half closing my eyes and run disorientated through the corridors until I find a space shuttle. I climb into it and press the first button I see. The airlock behind me seals and blasts off, I slump to the floor, exhausted, injured, and scared. I awake and notice three things. First, I'm alive, second, I'm covered in dry blood, third, I;m in a shuttle hurtling into some unknown planet. I stand up and gasp, as all the pain comes back. And then I hear a sound that pour fear into my heart, the screaming cry of TIE fighters. I turn around and stare out of the window. The TIE factory looks like a decaying animal, it slowly sinks into the surface of the planet vanishing within a mushroom cloud of blue fire and white light. Zie. We're separated. And now i've lost him forever. I stare at the mass of light, cold despite my burns and feel my heart choke with guilt. A cavern of emptiness forms within me, draining me of emotion. Only the on going scream of the TIE fighter jolts me back into reality. I slide to the controls, they're not what I'm used to. The jedi and republic shuttles were designed with care and uniqueness, each fold in the metal for a reason. This hunk of metal was slapped together by a droid. I find the main controls and maneuver the ship, flipping upside down and ending behind the TIE fighters. There are three of them. I search for several seconds before finding a control panel glowing with buttons. I select the first three and watch as a holographic screen appears in front of me. With my fingers I aim the laser and take out one of the TIE fighter before the others swerve away. The first goes out of control and reels outward, spinning insanely into the void. I see a stream of green light as the last TIE fighter opens fire. The jets of energy hit the ships left thruster with a burst of red sparks and smoke, the sound of melting, tearing, metal, and the thruster falls away, freezing within space. I loose control and am thrown across the room into a panel full of controls and setting. As the ship turns sideways my elbow knocks into one of the buttons. I hear a chink and see three class A thermal detonators cascade from a secret trapdoor within the shuttle. Space seems to explode with sound and light for the second time today, wave of energy causes cracks to form within the glass and throws the ship off course, turning the TIE fighter into dust. I look out of the window and see the planet I'm about to crash into. It's a pleasant light green, like when you look at a needle of grass from a droplet of dew. The many lakes and river's upon it's surface are electric blue. The metal of the ship is wrinkled and begins to peel of as we enter the atmosphere. Parts of the outer layout peel away before being incinerated by the heat. And then…it's as if a blanket has gone over my ears, no sound, just the steady falling from the clouds. Soon I'm through the white puffs, still falling the ship curves whipping around the clouds and zooming sideways. I see the world of green bellow as the shuttle begins a steady downward fall. Now we're about 1,000 feet within the air. Now 100 feet, I can see every individual tree. We're much closer now, I see a glistening blue before I feel the treetops snapping on the bottom of the shuttle. I blast open the trapdoor bellow me with the force and, when I see the blue that means we're over a lake I jump out. I feel the inflaming air upon my body before the cool touch of the water takes me. I drift down within it's deep depths, my eyes closed, before swimming up again. I get to the shore and drop down again. All of my burns and bruises, some serious, have finally brought me down. The last memory I have is fingering for my lightsaber, and find only the crystal left. I awake slowly, my eyelashes gently lifting upward to the sky. Then energy runs back into me as reality comes to me. My lightsaber! The crystal is fine, it's slim light blue form with a faint glow is untouched, but the blade…the focusing crystal, there all gone. The last thing I had to remember of my master…gone. I look at the crystal and clutch it tighter. This planet is beautiful, theres a huge lake where I jumped in, which is crystal blue, along with a sandy beach which is the shore of a huge jungle. The jungle is dense when I enter, made up of large branches so entangled that they all seem to form one multi dimensioned maze. Huge darn green vines droop down farther than I can see. The branches are covered in dead leaves, moss, and mushrooms. The entire jungle looks like some sort of 3D grid. I run long the edge of one branch before jumping down. All the noise from the outside is turned off, I have entered the jungle. Through the few areas where rays of light can penetrate the brush I see a steady hopping place followed by a slender branch. I flip downward upon hopping place. It looks like a nest, hundreds of twigs and rotting logs curved together and noun by generations of being twisted. Within it is a soft bed of moss, with gently tickling grass flowing up from it. I lean forward on my knees and survey the branch. It's thick and covered in red and white mushrooms, which will make is slippery. I leap down gracefully and land, crushing several mushrooms. My goal is to get to the top of one of the trees. I run upward along the branch and jump at it's edge, clearing twelve feet and grabbing onto a much smaller branch. I here several snaps and leap to the next one with my other hand. As I progress upward I notice how I'm not the youngling anymore, as my strong arms pull myself upward I feel the world blossom with awareness around me. Not only the sweet smells of pollen and buzzing of insects and the soft whisper of breeze, but also the force that flows within all of them that binds me to them. I'm on the last branch and the sun is starting to set. This is my last chance. I pull myself up with a gasp of surprise and effort and clamber onto the top. In the fading twilight I see the smoke trail of my ship leading east, through more jungle and into another glistening circle I'm betting is another lake. As the stars alight I notice the angle of the sun and the time of day it is, I hadn't realized it, but I turned fifteen two days ago. I smile to myself and jump down from the tree, landing on a thick branch covered in moss. I grope one of the vines from a nearby tree with the force and wrap it around my waist so that I don't fall off. I take a deep breath before I submerge into sleep. The morning lights peers at me between branches. I sit up and stretch, before climbing down to the next vine/branch. I run along it for a while before climbing onto a second. The smoke trail of my ship is faint but I can still see it. I take a deep breath and continue on the winding pathway towards what could be my only hope.

Chapter 3

Lord Vader stood in the dark room. The blue holographic image of his master was suspended in front of him, a large 3D image of his masters cruel face.

"The destruction of the TIE factory has not gone unnoticed, Lord Vader. It is a pestilence to have to seek out these troubling jedi who still will not accept their fate," said the emperor, his voice cracked with a small bit of amusement.

"It will be solved, my master. We have captured one of the jedi padawans who attacked the TIE factor. He is in cell 3448, section 9, and will soon be interrogated," replied Vader in his deep, mechanical voice.

"Good…," same the voice of Sidious from the hologram. The blue image flickered and then vanished, leaving Vader with silence. Three stormtroopers in their skeletal armer approached nervously. Vader reached out with the tendrils of the force and viewed their pitiful simple minds.

"Has the interrogation succeeded?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"No sir, the jedi refused to give any intel of his operations or his allies. Though do to the recorded evidence we have a 95% lock on a female togruta jedi Padawan, Nylla Vel, believed dead in the jedi temple was working with him at the time of the attack. We have further evidence that they were teamed with a Trandoshian band of bounty hunters, though they remain anonymous," said one of the Stormtroopers. For a moment nothing could be heard except Vader's harsh breathing.

"Dispose of the jedi, I will find the other. Attempt to track the Imperial Bomber that she escaped in, then tell me and I will continue the search," said Lord Vader. The stormtroopers nodded, staring straight at the metal eyes. The caped and shining black armored Sith stared down upon them with his blank black eyes, and then vanished down the hallway, a little to quickly. Vader turned a strode from the room. Imperial commanders made way as he passed.

30 hours later

"Lord Vader, we have managed to get a small radio tracking signal from the Imperial Bomber that the jedi padawan Nylla Vel used to escape," said a Stormtrooper. Vader peered downward upon the radio signals with waved ever so slightly as a signal was picked up.

"And the other jedi?" he asked in a cold voice.

"The captured jedi is being held with chamber 896, his execution with be carried out in five minutes, Lord Vader," replied the Stormtrooper.

"Keep him alive, and move him to the medical bay…I have an idea for a future use of him," Lord Vader whispered.


End file.
